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Published Jan 12, 2024

Jina Anne: How design systems affect company culture

Jina Anne, a Design Systems Advocate, delves into the transformative role design systems play in shaping company culture, enhancing talent acquisition, and fostering internal advocacy. Through her experiences at Salesforce and beyond, she uncovers the complexities of implementing and scaling these systems while emphasizing the need for thoughtful governance and a collaborative community.
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  • Company Culture

    Design systems can significantly influence company culture by fostering collaboration and efficiency. highlights how a well-maintained design system allows new designers to onboard quickly, enabling them to focus on more complex problems rather than mundane tasks like button colors 1. This shared ownership between design and engineering teams ensures that both sides contribute to solving the full spectrum of challenges, rather than just parts of it 2.

    Design and engineering should share the ownership of the design system together. Otherwise, I just think it's gonna get too one sided and you're not gonna be solving the full problem.

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    Such systems not only streamline processes but also enhance the relationship between design and engineering, making work faster and more cohesive.

       

    Recruitment

    Design systems can be powerful tools in recruiting and talent acquisition. explains that publishing a design system can act as a marketing tool, showcasing a company's design and engineering principles to potential recruits 1. This visibility can attract talent by demonstrating a commitment to quality and innovation.

    When we launched the lightning design system, our recruiting...definitely increased, and we were seeing really strong interests that maybe we didn't see before.

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    Moreover, having a hybrid team model, where design and engineering collaborate, ensures that the design system is robust and appealing to prospective employees 3.

       

    Governance

    Governance of design systems presents unique challenges and requires a balanced approach. argues against a top-down governance model, advocating instead for shared ownership that includes input from various contributors across the organization 4. This approach ensures that the system evolves according to product and user needs, rather than being dictated by a single team.

    What I like to see is a shared model of maybe you have the design system team that is helping maintain and keeping it maintained and going and updating it when it needs to be updated.

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    By engaging with designers, developers, and content strategists, companies can maintain a dynamic and effective design system that meets diverse needs 5.

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